


Easy

by daisherz365



Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Forehead Touching, Post-Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-08 22:57:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12874836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisherz365/pseuds/daisherz365
Summary: Frank had realized that things came easier with her. Especially when it came to his After.[Alt Frank meets up with Karen post s1 and they figure things out together]





	Easy

**EASY**

 

Frank was somewhere in between content and at a loss when he found himself at Karen Page’s doorstep once more. 

 

He had just come from Curtis’ place having had dinner with his best friend for the second week in a row since he was given his freedom. Curtis hadn't asked him but the one time but Frank had just ended up eating at the table by the day's end anyways. 

 

Some things just came easy for him. Curtis was like his brother. Little thinking went into wanting to be around him. 

 

If he was honest with himself he should have made it to Karen’s sooner. Something stopped him. Apprehension maybe. He didn't know where they were. Truthfully he never knew and that sat with him just fine. 

 

His freedom had changed the idea of what could happen. What he could do with her. That was less simple. More thinking. Less acting in motion. 

 

It wasn’t until Curtis asked him what was going on with the blonde journalist did he realize that he hadn't went back to check on her. His last words were for her to take care of herself like he knew she would. Nothing past that. 

 

He didn't go back to Micro’s lair to see if that crappy bouquet he had gotten her was still around in the window. If he let himself feel it he knew it scared him a little bit. Having someone care about you so easily as Karen did. But it was a mutual feeling, he cared for her on a level that he couldn't yet grasp.

 

It was a different form than Curtis or Micro or even Maria. He had been with Maria for years. They had experiences. Some of the best he ever experienced. Some of the most painful. He could never forget her but he could find a home in someone else to move on. Maria had only ever wanted him to be happy. He was close. Somewhere near that kick in the balls he mentioned to Curtis all those weeks ago.

 

He couldn't compare the two of them. It didn't feel right. Karen was her own woman. Even Red knew that. Made her own decisions, even if it pissed him off half the time. But it's also what he liked about her. 

 

Headstrong, fallible, soft. That was Page alright. 

 

With that in mind he finally rapped his knuckles against the chipped paint of her door. 

 

She didn't immediately answer and he was almost relieved. He needed an extra moment to gather himself. To try to figure out what he would do the second she let him in. 

 

All of that went out the window of course when she opened the door, hair dripping from the shower she must have been taking, the robe she was wearing held tight across her body. He noticed the gun before all of that but he only blinked once as one of her hands reached out to pull him inside. 

 

“Frank.” She sounded confused and elated all at once. She held a finger out after locking the door as she doubled back down the hall, gun still secure in her hand. 

 

She returned without it shortly, instead she was towel drying her hair. 

 

She was too comfortable with him, he had noticed it the first time he set foot in this apartment - it wasn't the same one that was riddled with bullets. Most people avoided him if they could. Not her. Never her. 

 

She had always met him head on to the point it actually baffled him. She was no coward. She was fierce and focused. 

 

Tonight she appeared just as unsure as he was. 

 

“What can I do for you?” She started. He was making her uncomfortable. He hadn't looked away from her this entire time. He tried to disengage but it was difficult when she was looking like that. She looked too good. She had a few lines from the wounds she got the last time they had been together - the bomb - but she still looked like Karen to him. 

 

He managed to look to the ground momentarily as he jerked his head back and forth. “You look good, Karen.”

 

This made her laugh. “Most women will probably be frazzled being under your gaze like that. Especially when you say shit like that. But I feel like you need something so out with it.”

 

He scoffed. “What if I could be normal for a minute, would that be so bad?”

 

Karen's brows furrowed trying to put together pieces that she didn't know how to fit together. She didn't know what had happened after he left her in that elevator. After he almost kissed her. After the adrenaline of not knowing left him battered and bruised and a bit hurt from mental wounds even more so than the several physical ones he had.

 

She had gotten most of the water out of her long sun dipped locks. “What do you mean?” She mumbled as she moved to sit on her couch, she sat sideways in order to conceal what skin she had underneath that robe, it was that long. He almost thought about what was under there. 

 

Too early, he thought. He hadn't even asked her out. That was now an option. It freaked him out a little in a way that Curtis would probably approve of. This was what normal men experienced when they liked someone. It was less I'm worried about this woman and more I'm nervous because I can be like everyone else in her company- yet not. They were on a different wavelength than normal people trying to find each other. In whatever way that  ended up turning into. 

 

“You wanted an after for me. I got it.” He decided to wait to elaborate. Wanting to see what she thought. See if she could figure out why he was saying that to her. 

 

“Medani.” She mumbled softly. 

 

He merely nodded. He watched her chew at her bottom lip. She was thinking. 

 

“What's your after look like ideally?” She asked him. 

 

He hadn't expected that. She did make a career out of asking the hard questions but he was still processing everything else. He didn't come here for that part of her life. He wanted the other part. Just for the moment. He wanted peace and company of a good woman who only wanted more for him. 

 

This moment after not knowing if he would get the chance to be in the same room with her again. 

 

“Working on that.” He replied, slowly. He was being honest with not a but in sight. He didn't want anything from her this time. 

 

Karen smiled at him. She turned her head next to her. “Sit then. You might be working awhile.” 

 

Frank tried to ignore whatever it was she was insinuating but couldn't dismiss the implication that maybe this was her way of inviting him in.  _ You're safe here.  _

 

He took the short steps to plop down next to her on the couch. It wasn't the most comfy piece of furniture but it was enough for her. He could see her typing up a new piece on this couch when she was much too tired to go to her bed down the hall. 

 

He could smell the citrus of her shampoo. Could see the color of her cheeks. Red from the hot water, steam was still coming off her. 

 

He looked away again, his hands grasping the denim of his jeans as a way of marking how off he felt to just sit here. No worries to speak of. No war. No one left for him to kill. None that he could see. 

 

“I have a new name.” He paused. When Karen didn't offer anything up he continued. “Not new, uh, I used it before.  When I disappeared.”

 

Karen hummed in recognition. The time when she couldn't find him. “What's this not new name?”

 

“Pete Castiglione. He's a better man I think.”

 

Karen reached out and touched his arm. “Frank. You're already good. It's just a name.”

 

Frank not Pete right now turned to Karen and he opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. She was looking at him with such conviction that he had a hard time swallowing. 

 

“Page just a name too?” It was a defense mechanism, him turning the topic to someone else. He always did it. This time it didn't feel as strong as it should have been.  He was still trying to figure out how to be.

 

“My family name. Not close. Accident. Dead brother. Anything else you wanna know?” Frank was taken by how easy it seemed for her to just throw out her dirty laundry like that. The world knew who Frank Castle was but they had no idea about Karen. Not really. 

 

He didn't fully know her either but he had to be closest. They understood each other. “Later.” He quipped finally.

 

He relaxed into the couch, his body losing much of the tension it had the second her hand touched his skin. 

 

“You had dinner?” She didn't want to assume. She didn't know where he lived these days, nor did she really before. They always met out in the open. Her place was neutral ground. It had to be. 

 

Frank nodded. “Curtis, my friend who does a group for vets is also a good cook. He hasn't asked me to stay away yet.”

 

“If he cares about you I imagine he wouldn't. Good friends are hard to come by.” She paused, sighing as she started to remove her hand from his arm. She had lingered longer than she should. She just wanted to make sure he knew that she was there. That they both were.

 

“He's too good. Keeps me grounded. Good ear too.” 

 

Karen was happy to know he had someone else to talk to. Someone who knew him before she came into his life with a photograph and determination. “I got one of those although I don't always listen to him. He freaked out a little when he found out I was with you again.”

 

“Nelson.” Frank chuckled. “He's still kicking it, huh.”

 

“Big lawyer now.” She confided in him, she sounded so proud. In the grand view of then and now both Karen Page and the Nelson guy had come up from the ground and become something better. In Frank's point of view he was proud of her too. Had to be, even if it meant he got beat up to protect that life she made for herself. 

 

“Tell me to go if this ticks you off but Murdock didn't benefit either of you too much.”

 

Karen laughed. “Oh yeah, I know. Wasn't much to hold onto either.”

 

Frank didn't want to know what happened, but he did want to know if she knew that Murdock was Red. He couldn't ask her that now. Not yet.

 

He didn't know how to respond to that without giving it away that he knew about the alias so he just hummed in recognition. 

 

Frank hadn't let go. Not on her or any of the ones who gave a damn about him. Didn't want to. As she said good friends were hard to come by. 

 

“Wanna come next week to Curtis’?” He made sure he was looking at her when he said it, a hand slipping over to make a home over one of hers. 

 

He watched the surprise flit into her orbs. This part was simple. This was a step that he knew he had to take in order to make moves towards a good point in his after. 

 

Karen Page had become a vital point. He didn't see the point in pretending any different. 

 

“Sure?” She asked. 

 

“Stupid question, Page.” He grumbled, his hand tightening over hers just enough for her to get that he didn't plan on reverting back to that dance they had. He had a choice. This was his play. 

 

“With you I never know.” She swallowed, hard as she turned her hand over so that she could grasp his properly. 

 

“Okay.” She answered softly after looking at him a bit too long. She did that a lot. She couldn't break that habit. She didn't know when he would leave. If suddenly he would disappear again but a chance at dinner with someone else Frank Castle actually liked felt like the opposite of him wanting to slip away from view. 

 

“Thanks.” His reply came fumbling and disjointed as he moved to press his forehead against hers. 

 

He was aware that this felt different than the elevator. No blood, no guns in sight, no danger (none lethal, just emotional) just two lonely souls finding peace for the first time in years - for Frank. A bit for Karen too although he didn't know it. Frank had this weird effect on her that she hadn't begun to process but it felt good. 

 

Karen used her hand that was free to hold his face there. She wanted this to last longer. Wanted to feel it. 

 

She felt his intake of breath from his jaw to the way the air panned across her face. It left a cooling effect and a set of chills that wasn't exactly because she had recently showered and was wearing less clothes than she should with a man in her company. 

 

They said nothing. Frank didn't move. If anything he seemed to relax more with her this close. 

 

He moved his hand to move some of her wet hair out of her face. He could kiss her. He should. Everything in him saying this was a good sign but he opts not to instead enjoying the solitary of this feeling. He's not having to think much. Just be. 

 

It's always been that easy with Karen. Everything in front of him didn't matter as long as he could try this with her. He think it'll do Pete some good too. 

 

While he's in this moment he fails to notice the glimmer in the blonde’s eye as she's watching him and soon she's knocked him over and he's laughing much too much as he makes sure she doesn't hurt herself as she pressed herself against him. 

 

She too could go in for a kiss, a proper one but she doesn't. She lightly kisses his cheek before settling into his chest. 

 

This is enough for today. They still have a date set. 

 

_ Later _ . They meant that. 

**Author's Note:**

> I know this could have been smut central but I decided not to go there just yet. I may later. 
> 
> This was my first post Punisher Kastle fic so I'm honestly surprised I didn't do a lot of things. My muse y'all. 
> 
> Ps more Kastle incoming. Also lemme know if you wanna see the Curtis dinner thing because I might!!! 
> 
> Also if you love Curtis I have a lovely bro fic with him, Frank, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes - how does that work you ask, [Like Clockwork](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12801411) for your enjoyment. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it! <3 day


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